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Ask HN: Which book are you reading these days?

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Re: Ask HN: Which book are you reading these days?

#261

Post by mathattack »

mjhoy wrote: post #204

Don Quixote . Touches on a lot: perception, value, narrative, ethics, creativity. Above all it is funny as hell and beautifully written. Types and Programming Languages , Benjamin Pierce, slightly intimidating mathematically for me but worth diving in, lots of interesting ideas, I'm only through to the second chapter.

I struggled with Don Quixote. After 100 pages or so I just felt like I was missing something. It was as if the story was just repeating itself. Did you get to the end? Did it get better?

Re: Ask HN: Which book are you reading these days?

#262

Post by selleck »

A.M. Train Ride - Creative Thinkering

- Just okay

P.M. Train Ride - Counter Hack Reloaded

- so far so good. a little dated but a good intro to security.

Audiobook - 48 Laws of Power

- I love the history lessons in it. Very engaging. You don't have to be power-hungry to read it.

Digital Book at work - The Art of Software Security Assessment

- Just started, I will let you know next month.

Re: Ask HN: Which book are you reading these days?

#264

Post by carapat_virulat »

wpietri wrote: post #50

I'm almost done with The Field Guide to Understanding Human Error : http://www.amazon.com/Field-Guide-Understanding-Human-Error/... It's a brilliant book written by Sidney Dekker, a "Professor of Human Factors and Flight Safety". The basic point is that the default way of understanding bad outcomes is what he calls "the Old View or the Bad Apple Theory". He instead argues for the New View, where "human error is a sym…

It probably has nothing to do with it, but as I was reading your post it sounded very similar to the typical Hegelian approach to history and societies.

Re: Ask HN: Which book are you reading these days?

#265

Post by sunir »

mathattack wrote: post #258

I'm currently about a third of the way through Hyperion by Dan Simmons. It's interesting Science Fiction. In my queue: iWoz, the Google Way and the Lean Startup. I want to pick up some Terry Pratchett books. Several years back a colleague said, "You're too serious in your reading, go look up this Pratchett fellow..."

For those interested, The Hyperion series has some excellent audiobook editions on audible. Particularly appealing for the first book which in in the style of the Cantebury tales.

Re: Ask HN: Which book are you reading these days?

#266

Post by mjhoy »

mathattack wrote: post #261
mjhoy wrote: post #204

Don Quixote . Touches on a lot: perception, value, narrative, ethics, creativity. Above all it is funny as hell and beautifully written. Types and Programming Languages , Benjamin Pierce, slightly intimidating mathematically for me but worth diving in, lots of interesting ideas, I'm only through to the second chapter.

I struggled with Don Quixote. After 100 pages or so I just felt like I was missing something. It was as if the story was just repeating itself. Did you get to the end? Did it get better?

I'm about 40 chapters (~350 pages) through. I wouldn't say it gets better, or worse: I loved it from the beginning. If you aren't hooked by 100 pages, I'd put it down. However I'd recommend coming back to it later, maybe in a few years, try it again, see if you don't get more out of it.

Also, if you didn't read the Edith Grossman translation, try that, it is very smart and modern. The older translation feels a bit stuffy to me.

Re: Ask HN: Which book are you reading these days?

#268

Post by joshgel »

wpietri wrote: post #50

I'm almost done with The Field Guide to Understanding Human Error : http://www.amazon.com/Field-Guide-Understanding-Human-Error/... It's a brilliant book written by Sidney Dekker, a "Professor of Human Factors and Flight Safety". The basic point is that the default way of understanding bad outcomes is what he calls "the Old View or the Bad Apple Theory". He instead argues for the New View, where "human error is a sym…

You'll probably like Thinking Fast... and Slow. By Daniel Kahneman. It's all about how the mind works and why errors in judgement/logic happen.

Re: Ask HN: Which book are you reading these days?

#269

Post by ryanmk »

loudmax wrote: post #249

Stories of Your Life and Others is a collection of short stories by Ted Chiang. The stories explore wildly different topics, but every one of them is amazing. Someone on HN had recommended The Box by Marc Levinson. It's a history of the shipping container. That sounds dreadfully prosaic, but the book is well written and the shipping container's influence on our modern global economy cannot be overstated. Not reading…

Love Ted Chiang!

Re: Ask HN: Which book are you reading these days?

#270

Post by jayhuang »

Some of my favourite books or books currently on my wishlist (in no particular order). Many of these have been mentioned in other comments:

* Harry Potter series (thankfully I read this as a kid when I had more time)

* Thinking, Fast and Slow

* How to Win Friends and Influence People

* David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

* Self-Made Man: One Woman's Year Disguised as a Man

* The Martian: A Novel

* How to Break a Terrorist: The U.S. Interrogators Who Used Brains, Not Brutality, to Take Down the Deadliest Man in Iraq

* Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets

* Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

* Outliers: The Story of Success

* The Rare Find: How Great Talent Stands Out

* The Martian's Daughter: A Memoir

* Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

* Ghost in the Wires: My Adventure as the World's Most Wanted Hacker

* The Better Angels of our Future

* Daemon

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